Unasked for Euthanasia in Belgium
By Wesley J. SmithThe bottom line of euthanasia consciousness is that killing is splendid way to end human suffering.
Advocates say it is also about “choice.” But once one accepts the first destructive premise, what’s choice got to do with it?
Now a study published in the Journal of Medical Ethics shows that 1.7% of Belgian deaths are caused by termination without request or consent. From the study:
In 2007, the use of life-ending
drugs with the intention to shorten life and without explicit request
occurred in 1.8% of deaths and in 2013 it was 1.7% of deaths.
Using U.S. demographics (2.5 million deaths annually), that would be roughly 42,500 non voluntary euthanasia killings!And here’s a howler trying to explain why the percentage of nonvoluntary terminations has dropped from 3.2% since 1998:
(1) physicians have gained
experience and confidence in the practice of euthanasia and involve the
patients in the decision-making process, (2) physicians resort to
practices such as terminal sedation that is different than
euthanasia and (3) physicians may not always be well acquainted with the
labelling of all the medical practices at the end of life.
Here’s a fourth: They didn’t report their crimes.I suspect this is just the tip of the iceberg. Belgium has jumped head-first off a vertical moral cliff.
Editor’s note. This appeared on Wesley’s great blog.
Source: NRLC News
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